Marine Corps Marathon Unveils New Course

Revised route is flatter and offers close-up views of the Capitol.

Runners chasing personal records—or those looking for distractions—at the Marine Corps Marathon can rejoice: Today, the race announced this year’s edition, as well as future ones, will feature a flatter, more scenic course.

Gone is the sharp, hairpin turn up to the Georgetown Reservoir and the 150-foot grade around the body of water. The new route sends runners directly to M Street, then to the Rock Creek and Potomac Parkway, all on roads that flatten the route between miles 6 and 9.

“The change was primarily a safety and operational one,” race spokeswoman Tami Faram told Runner’s World Newswire. “With the volume of runners and increase in wheelchair and hand-cycle participants, the sharp turn just wasn’t practical.”

Marine Corps regularly attracts 30,000 runners, and the number of wheelchair competitors has doubled in the last six years, Faram said.

A cliff near the reservoir area also limited the number of spectators on that section of the course and didn’t allow for aid stations.

The reroute to the tree-lined Rock Creek and Potomac Parkway adds more greenery to the course, and features views of historic bridges. Developed in the 1920s and 1930s, the parkway is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Changes were made around mile 19 to get an exact 26.2-mile route, Faram said. The result is a close-up look at the United States Capitol Building. Rather than staying on 3rd Street, the new course travels down 1st Street, passing right in front of the Capitol just after mile 19.

Marine Corps sold out in two hours and 27 minutes this year, but some of its charity partners still have bibs available. You also have until August 30 to talk a friend into giving you their number in the race’s annual bib switch.